4/8/24, 12:18 PM Wisden - Wisden Obituaries - 2013

In 2012 Gibson became the first Leicestershire player known to have reached 100 years of age, and when he
died the only older surviving county cricketer was Cyril Perkins - who passed away himself in 2013.

HANUMANTHA RAO, S. N., who died on July 29, aged 83, was an umpire from Bangalore who stood in
nine Tests between 1978-79 and 1983-84, as well as two one-day internationals. In the Test at Bombay in
February 1980 which marked the golden jubilee of the Indian board, Hanumantha Rao gave Bob Taylor out
caught behind - but India's captain, Gundappa Viswanath, was convinced Taylor had not touched it, and
persuaded Rao to reverse his decision, a sporting gesture which arguably cost his side victory in a low-
scoring game. Later, Rao gave Geoff Boycott out caught behind down the leg side off Kapil Dev, but Boycott
turned his back and prepared for the next delivery. To Kapil's chagrin, Rao eventually lowered his finger.

HARRIS, RONALD GEORGE, died on February 1, aged 80. Sydney umpire "Rocky" Harris stood in a
solitary international match - but it was a landmark, the first official one day international under floodlights,
between Australia and West Indies at Sydney in November 1979. He also umpired 13 first-class games, later
managed New South Wales youth teams, and was in charge of the visitors' dressing-room at the SCG for 15
years until 2012. He kept his own honours board there, logging notable events on the front of a large
wooden cupboard: the tradition started in 1999, when South Australia's Mark Harrity was out first ball and
kicked it, whereupon Harris wrote his name on the dent.

HEARN, PETER, died on March 25, aged 87. When the elegant, left-handed Peter Hearn made a century on
debut for Kent in 1947, he raised premature and unrealistic expectations that the county had unearthed a
successor to Frank Woolley. The burden proved too much. It was not that his dream start at Gillingham's
Garrison ground, against a Warwickshire attack that included the pace of Tom Pritchard and the spin of Eric
Hollies, was a fluke: on his day, Hearn rivalled the most attractive batsmen in the country. But as his career
progressed, those days grew infrequent.

Cricket was an inescapable part of Hearn's upbringing in a cottage on the boundary of the Nevill Ground at
Tunbridge Wells, where his grandfather was the groundsman, and his father a capable all-rounder; his uncle
Sidney had played for Kent in the 1920s. Peter was still in his teens when he appeared alongside Woolley for
C. H. Knott's Kent XI in 1942, but any thought of a career in the game was postponed when he joined the
Royal Engineers the following year. He was taken prisoner in France and, towards the end of the war he was
forced on a 500-mile march as the Germans tried to keep POWs away from the Allied advance.

Hearn was still in the army when he made that century on first-class debut. Not until 1950 did he pass 1,000
runs for the first of three times. "He was a very graceful, good looking batsman, but he was a nervous
starter," said team-mate Bob Wilson. In 1953 Hearn pushed his average up to 30 and scored three hundreds;
the following summer he hit 1,413 runs, including a career-best 172 against Worcestershire at Dudley, the
last 72 coming in an hour. "It was a magnificent knock," Wilson recalled. "He looked so good. You thought,
'Why can't he do that all the time?'"

Hearn was released after making just three appearances in 1956, and for a time was the professional at
Kirkcaldy in Scotland. He also coached at Tonbridge School, and played for Tunbridge Wells into his forties.
Kent colleagues cherished the story of the manager Les Ames, furious at a batting collapse, arriving in the
dressing-room to administer a lecture without noting that Hearn was not present. Ames was in full tirade
when Hearn appeared insouciantly at the door: "Anyone want an ice cream?"

HOLSTROM, JOHN ERIC, who died on October 18, aged 86, was blessed with a mellifluous voice and dry
wit which made him a much-loved announcer on BBC Radio Three for a number of years. A lifelong cricket-
lover, he regarded a shift while Test Match Special was on air with relish - unlike most of his colleagues. His
was often the voice listeners heard at the start and end of the day, during technical hiccoughs and, for some
years, during extended rain-breaks - before the idea took root that listeners preferred to remain at the
ground for the conversation of Arlott, Trueman et al. Holmstrom was also a playwright, theatre critic,
translator and shopkeeper. With the writer Timothy d'Arch Smith he developed a cricket game first invented
by a pair of Australian POWs in a Japanese camp, which involved two sets of playing cards and a pair of dice.
It had, said a friend, rules of "fiendish complexity".

IJAZ HUSSAIN MIRZA, who died on April 7, aged 71, was a batsman and superb cover fielder who played
for Karachi and National Bank in a ten-year first-class career from 1962. His only century, 123 for Karachi
Blues against Bahawalpur in 1964-65, came during a seventh-wicket partnership of 155 with the future Test
wicketkeeper Wasim Bari, who was only 16 at the time.

JACELON, BERTICE, died on August 13, aged 98. An umpire who stood in both Tests at the Queen's Park
Oval in his native Trinidad on India's tour in 1961-62, "Bertie" Jacelon was later involved in one of the game's
more bizarre fiascos. When the Barbadian Cortez Jordan was chosen to stand in the Test against Australia in
Guyana in 1964-65, the local umpires' association directed the other official - Cecil Kippins, one of their
members - to withdraw in protest on the eve of the match; until then, each territory had provided both
umpires for Tests. Jacelon was hurriedly summoned from Trinidad as a last-minute replacement, but his flight
was delayed and he failed to reach Georgetown in time. In a fix, the West Indian board, with the agreement
of the Australians, turned to former Test allrounder Gerry Gomez, by then head of the West Indies Umpires'
Association. Gomez was a qualified umpire, but had never officiated in a first-class match, let alone a Test.
He was also a board member and a selector and, for good measure, an end-of-play radio summariser. His
first task was to order the repainting of the creases, which had been incorrectly marked. In a match West
Indies won by 212 runs, the Australians were satisfied with his judgment. Kippins returned for the last two
Tests, while Jacelon was never given another.

JACOBSON, Dr LOUIS COLLINS, who died on December 6, aged 95, had been Ireland's oldest surviving
cricketer. He was a polished batsman and occasional wicketkeeper, who played most of his club cricket for

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